51 men jailed for more than 400 years in Monster of Avignon’s rape trial

Gisele Pelicot – a woman who has became a feminist symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France – has today broken her silence on the mass rape trial.

The 72-year-old said the trial had been a ‘very difficult ordeal’ and thanked all those who had supported her.

Addressing the crowd outside the court in Avignon, she said: ‘I am thinking of all the other families affected by this tragedy and all the unrecognised victims. We share the same fight.’

Gisele said she feels ‘very emotional’ and is thinking of her children and her grandchildren, who stood beside her as the verdicts of her 51 abusers were read out.

‘For them [children and grandchildren] I wanted to put this struggle forward,’ she said, adding that she never regretted choosing to waver her anonymity to the public.

Her husband of 38 years, Dominique Pelicot, drugged her and invited scores of men to rape her while unconscious over a 10-year period, the three-month trial heard.

During the hearing this morning at a court in the French city of Avignon, Pelicot, who was sat in the glass defendant’s box, was the first to be told of the verdict.

He was found guilty of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her.

Pelicot has been handed a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for his crimes.

He is also guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, Jean Pierre Marechal, Cillia, and taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine.

Earlier this morning, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault. Some of them have also been found guilty of owning child abuse imagery.

Jean-Pierre Marechal, accused of raping his wife using the same modus operandi as Pelicot, has been sentenced to 12 years. Prosecutors had requested 17 years.

The 63-year-old truck driver had invited Pelicot to rape his own drugged wife, on at least a dozen occasions. 

Overall, the accused were given lower sentences than those requested by the public prosecutor during the indictments. 

A cheer went up outside the court among the victim’s supporters when the verdicts began filtering out.

Beatrice Zavarro, Pelicot’s lawyer, has since confirmed that her client is considering lodging an appeal.

Applause also erupted from supporters as the 72-year-old woman arrived at the court this morning.

Meanwhile, campaigners held up placards reading ‘Prison case for all’ and ‘Your d**k in a blender’ as defendants entered.

During the trial, Gisèle had condemned the cowardice of the dozens of men accused of abusing her, all of whom claim they did not realise it was rape. 

‘For m,e this is the trial of cowardice, there is no other way to describe it,’ she said earlier this year, adding that there was no excuse for abusing her when she was unconscious. 

Dominique, also 72, and the dozens of other men were tried for aggravated rape and attempted rape and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

He has admitted the charges. Prosecutors asked that he get the maximum penalty and for sentences of 10-18 years for the others.

They also requested a four-year prison term for another defendant who was tried for aggravated sexual assault.

Gisele was subjected to 10 years of mass rape organised by her now ex-husband.

Dominique admitted in court to drugging his wife and inviting strangers – ordinary men from across their village of Mazan – into their house to also rape her while she was unconscious. 

She only learnt of her ordeal when police found videos and pictures her husband recorded of the abuse he is accused of orchestrating. 

The historic case has profoundly shaken France over the past few months.

Gisele’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence — including videos — to be heard in open court have fueled conversations about rape culture.

‘Men are starting to talk to women — their girlfriends, mothers and friends — in ways they hadn’t before,’ said Fanny Foures, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones outside the courthouse.

‘It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening,’ the 48-year-old said.

‘Some women are realising, maybe for the first time, that their ex-husbands violated them, or that someone close to them committed abuse.

‘And men are starting to reckon with their behaviour or complicity — things they’ve ignored or failed to act on. It’s heavy, but it’s creating change.’

President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet believes that Gisele carries ‘the voice of so many victims.

She wrote on X: ‘Thank you for your courage Gisele Pelicot. Through you, it is the voice of so many victims that carries today, the shame that changes sides, the taboo that is broken.

‘The world is no longer the same thanks to you.’

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